Malaria
Science and Technology coming together to enhance the Safety of the Blood Supply
35 years of scientific leadership - Abbott Diagnostic involvement
Abbott Diagnostics is taking a leadership role to understand and partner with the industry to address blood safety and availability concerns. Abbott Diagnostics is working with the blood bank industry to determine the economic cost of current malaria deferrals and the economic impact resulting from
- Lost revenue due to loss of donation
- Resources spent to counsel potential donors
- Recruitment costs to replace lost units
- Post Donation Information (PDI) - donors recall a visit to a malaria endemic area after having donated blood.
Abbott Diagnostics is working with the industry to develop strategies to maintain the safety of the blood supply, while reducing the number of donors deferred due to travel. Abbott Diagnostics is evaluating options for ABBOTT PRISM test development.
Who will be next?
Challenges posed by malarial deferrals
What is Malaria?
Malaria is a serious disease caused by a parasite. Patients with malaria typically are very sick with high fevers, shaking chills, and flu-like illness. World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that each year 300-500 million cases of malaria occur and more than 1 million people die of malaria.Malaria is the leading cause of death and disease worldwide, especially in developing countries.
How is malaria transmitted?
Usually, people get malaria by being bitten by an infected Anopheles mosquito.
However, malaria can be transmitted through
- blood transfusion or organ transplant
- shared needles or syringes
- or from mother to her fetus before or during delivery
Malaria is not transmitted from person to person like a cold or the flu. You can not get malaria from casual contact with malaria-infected people.
Malaria was eradicated years ago in the U.S., right?
Malaria was eradicated from the United States in the early 1950s. However, malaria is common in many developing countries and travelers who visit these areas risk getting malaria. Over 1,000 cases of malaria are diagnosed in the United States each year, almost all acquired during international travel. Malaria can often be prevented by the use of anti-malarial drugs. Over 75% of cases diagnosed in the U.S. are associated with failure to use recommended chemoprophylaxis.
Can I acquire malaria in the U.S.?
Each year in the U.S., several cases (<10) of malaria are acquired stateside, by
- congenital transmission
- local mosquito-borne transmission
- blood transfusion or organ transplantation
On average, 2-3 cases of transmission occur by blood transfusion annually.
How do we keep the blood supply safe?
Currently, blood safety is maintained through:
- deferral policies based on history of malarial infection
- deferral policies based on travel or residence in malaria endemic countries or regions.
There are no approved laboratory tests to screen donors for malarial infections.
Increasing travel is shrinking the donor pool
Current donor deferral polices have been effective in reducing transfusion transmitted malaria. However, approximately 150,000 donors are deferred each year due to travel outside of the U.S. to locations with malarial exposure risk. Resulting in fewer qualified blood donors and potential blood availability issues.
What are the options being considered?
- Modify the questionnaire – For example, Continue to defer potential donors that lived in or travel to malaria endemic areas. (Africa, etc.)Allow visitors to Mexico and Caribbean to donate blood.
- Selective Screening – Donors continue to be deferred based on questionnaire, allowed to reenter the blood system after a period of time and negative result on assay that detects antibody to malaria.
- Universal screening – All Donors screened for antibody to malaria.
